by Bassassin » Thu Jul 16, 2009 8:07 am
Dunno about info but we can always speculate! Personally I think yours is a Matsumoku - while it's superficially similar to the Kasuga, Matsumoku guitars from this era generally display some traits which yours shares.
Specifically, the 3-screw pickup adjustment & arrowhead-shaped trc are very common Mat traits, which appear on many of their guitars. In addition to this yours has the same wood insets on the control knobs & large position dots, like the Univox. I'm inclined to think yours is a variation produced by the factory - detail changes in particular Japanese copies were very common.
The version yours most closely resembles is the Shaftesbury - despite what the article says, Shaftesbury guitars don't seem to have been sourced from Fujigen, but many do identify as Matsumoku. Apart from the pickups, yours appears identical to the Shafty.
I'd strongly disagree with the article's contention that the single-pickup Ventura is a Matsumoku - it bears no detail similarities to the confirmed Mats, and is in many ways much closer to the Fujigen version. I think the writer assumes that because some Ventura-brand guitars were Matsumoku, therefore they all were.
The Aria branded versions were made by Matsumoku - as were probably all of their "lawsuit era" guitars - the writer has his facts back-to-front here. Arai Co are believed to have moved production from their own facility to Matsumoku in order to cope with demand in the late 60s.
The single-pickup Greco version is particularly interesting, to me the general nature of construction & components make it plain that this is not a vintage copy. The C-prefix serial isn't consistent with the M/YY lettered format so I'm inclined to think this guitar's 90s or later. It was possibly made to tie-in with the recent Armstrong reissues.
I think on the whole the writer's too eager to ascribe all 70s MIJ production to the three factories he's aware of, whereas the reality is that there were likely ten times that or more, building copies at that time, with components, necks & bodies all coming from different sources.
J.
Remembering of all that is past
I see everything before me at last...